Hello C & F Folks: I am in need of a workable transcription of “Ashokan Farewell” for the “A” Whistle. Transcribing the first part, including the two different endings (last two measures) has not been that difficult, but there are sections of the B part (if you will) that, because of octave shifts, etc., are hard for me reduce to writing. I have used a few of the “ABC Converter” programs, based on inputting the ABC notation from The Session, but end up with bass clef notation for the lower parts. (There be dragons there as far as I am concerned. I don’t know from the bass clef.) Oddly enough, I can play along with recorded versions of the tune more easily than I can annotate it, which may be a good thing, but if I am to get close to getting it right, I would like a usable transcription in its entirety. I am not sure how other players handle those notes below lowest A on the A whistle. I have looked through various postings on this tune–which I have been avoiding for about 15 years–and can’t find what I am looking for. I am guided here by the view that the first mark of wisdom is to admit what you don’t know.
Plug in the ABC and transpose it to whatever key you need. If it’s already in the right key, go up a whole octave. Or two. Eventually you’ll get to the treble clef.
There are a few ways that this is handled for Ashokan Farewell.
The first method requires a whistle made with a “long foot”, if you will, which incorporates the notes below the normal bell note. On a D whistle they are sometimes called D+ whistles. An A+ whistle would be a whistle of a better grade though.
You can play Ashokan Farewell in the key of D on that A whistle. That gives you the lower notes but it also takes you up to the third octave for a note or two. You can fold those notes or modify the melody slightly if you like. Most of the tune then resides in the sweet part of the range of most whistles. You will have one note, a C in the key of D, that needs to be half-holed XXX XDO. Or you can play it in the key of A on an E whistle, preferably a low E whistle.
X:1
T:Ashokan Farewell (in D)
C: Jay Ungar
M:3/4
L:1/8
K:D
Ac|d3 c BA|F4 EF|G3 F ED|B2 d3 B &B,2 D3 B,|A2 d2 f2 &A,2 D2 F2 |a2 d2 f2 &A2 d2 f2 | f3 g f2|e4 Ac|
|d3 c BA|F4 EF|G3 F ED|B2 D3 B &B,2 D3 B,|A2 d2 f2 &A,2 D2 F2 |A2 d2 f2 | A2 c2 e2|d4 FG ||
A3 F D2|d4 A2|B3 c d2|A F3 E2|F3 E D2|B4 A<G & B,4 A,<G, |A6 & A,6|A4 FE|
D2 F2 A2|=c4 d2|B3 c d2|A2 F3 D |A2 d2 f2& A,2 D2 F2|A2 d2 F2|E3 F E2 & E3 D C2|D4 ||
Where two notes are shown the ones with the downward point sticks are ‘the tune’, as a fiddler would play it. I can’t remember which fiddler though, it may be based on a setting from thesession.org.
The higher set of notes are folded up the octave (with a low C fudged as an E, or leave it out). Playing whistle with fiddlers they don’t clash; playing solo mixing and matching amongst what is in range might bring out the ‘tune’ better. If playing in D most of the actual tune will fit on an A whistle. If not you can show other ‘options’ in the same way.
That said, I have taken to sitting out and listening to the fiddlers doing their thing.
Thank you for that. That appears to be the ABC version of the tune that one would follow if playing a D whistle. I am looking for sheet music that one would use when playing an A whistle but pretending one is playing a D whistle. Thus, the first two notes–the ‘pick-up’ notes in the first measure–would be the ‘d’ and ‘f’ position on an A whistle.
Thank you Bill and thank you David. Alas, this is what happens when one begins the study of music at the age of 53…and I assure you, that was long ago and far away.
I am returning to the Green Reservation after a foray into the dreaded Rock & Roll. It will feel good to get home when I get there OR I will learn to appreciate the journey, including the bumps in the road and the smooth parts.
I forgot what a fine, helpful and giving community this here C & F thing is. Way back when, Dale was kind enough to use one of my early digital photos on the opening page.
Sorry I just can’t make much sense of ABC notation.
Anyhow I play the tune in the “G” position regardless which size whistle I’m playing, because the whole tune fits with no “folding” required, except one brief note just below the bellnote, which I leave out, and it sounds fine to me.
My thanks to all for the input. It is easier for me to play the tune than to notate it. Go figure. I am using key of g played on an A whistle and it works though I make some different high/low octave choices than are shown on the converted abc notation. I agree that abc notation, on its face, is not something I can use. However, if you copy and paste it into one of the several conversion programs that are out there it enables quick generation of sheet music in any key you want.
The guys I am working with and I are also working on Give Me Your Hand and there sure are a few highly similar passages.
I believe I have all I need at this time. I would make one unrelated observation: In the 1940’s my father was a sand hog and truck driver on the reservoir system that includes the Ashokan Reservoir. As a resident of Brooklyn, New York, I now drink water from the Ashokan on a daily basis. Some circles remain unbroken.
My Best Wishes to All The Fine Folks in the C & F Community,
